Unenlightened? Perhaps. But reluctance — even resistance — to comply with green initiatives in favor of wasteful technologies has intriguingly persuasive precedents. Low-flow flush toilets intended to save water invariably required two or three additional flushes to get the job done. Savings were nil. Showerheads designed to reduce water waste dispensed such fine, low-pressure mists that people found themselves spending extra time and water rinsing shampoo from their hair. High-tech clothes dryers require another 20-to-25 minutes spinning because — energy efficiency notwithstanding — clothes remain disrespectfully damp.

False economies and perverse outcomes are the common denominators here. Technical innovations explicitly intended to save water led to greater waste and frustration. Energy-saving technologies didn’t really save energy. Why should anyone be surprised that an aging population squinting at tiny mobile texts gets nervous when household lights just aren’t bright enough? Sustainability can be subverted by the everyday inconvenience of innovations that prioritize environmental efficiency over effective performance.

Even greener consumers have mixed feelings about paying more — in dollars, Euros, or frustration — for less. False economies are seldom bargains. Good intentions rarely conceal perverse outcomes. That’s why innovations stressing green efficiencies increasingly inspire gray markets in effectiveness. The more expensive or irritating the inconvenience, the more colorful the gray market opportunities.

This gray market innovation climate invites SMOG — for Sneaky Modifications of Greentech. Hoarding is the most obvious gray market signal. But mal-designed greentech provokes all manner of tweaks and hacks to improve, enhance and replace well-intentioned but underachieving toilets and showerhead (an entire episode of the classic television comedy Seinfeld was built around the theme of procuring a “real” showerhead). Many households will actually buy refurbished clothes dryers from earlier eras instead of newer ones to assure that clothes and towels actually get dry.

The same innovation ethos may emerge in big ticket green/energy efficient products. Proposed EPA regulations calling for automobile fleets to average 56.2 mpg has raised concerns from consumers and automakers alike about the size and power of future vehicles. Will Americans see a return to “hot rod” days as drivers seeking a little more oomph from their vehicles share insight and information about how to unlock engine control systems to gain a little higher performance? The ultimate outcome of populist efforts to bypass tech-green constraints was the chillingly brilliant “Green Police” Audi Super Bowl ad.

In many respects, the swirl of enunciated unhappiness around the perceived limitations of sustainability innovation recalls the frustration so many users felt with “locked” mobile phones and smart phones. By hook and by crook, more adventuresome customers and not a few mom-and-pop vendors figured out how to bypass the express will of manufacturers and service providers alike. Sometimes the warranty — and legality — of such moves were unclear. But the fact is that gray market pressures appear to encourage ongoing innovation in the mobile marketplace.

To the extent that green innovation and sustainability technologies are seen as compromises or even sacrifice brands — i.e., accepting noticeably poorer performance in exchange for ecological virtue — gray market options and opportunities for innovators will follow. No doubt a non-trivial number of green gray market innovations will put pressure on regulators and more formal enterprises to either rewrite the rules or dramatically upgrade product performance. There’s also no doubt that — just as households and businesses are fined if they don’t correctly recycle their paper and plastic throwaways — the State will seek to punish sustainability slackers and hackers.

Its champions have positioned cleantech as a source of economic growth, employment and innovation. The emergence of gray markets suggests that the innovations arising in reaction to cleantech may have a comparable impact on the future of sustainability as both a brand and behavior.

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